Thursday, November 29, 2012

Garrett Gilchrist is an independent film-maker with a passion for animation. He has spent many years attempting to rebuild the original director's cut of one of animation's greatest might-have-been epic films: The Thief and the Cobbler. In a two-part interview, FLIP asked Garrett to talk a little about his latest edit - The Recobbled Cut (Mark 4).

Animation designer and director Tod Polson has been working for over a year on a new book about the life and art of legendary designer Maurice Noble, who had a 60 year career in the animation business and was responsible for the look of some of the most famous Looney Tunes shorts, including What's Opera Doc?,Duck Dodgersand the Road Runner series. FLIP caught up with Tod at the Animation Workshop in Denmark and asked him a few questions about his new project.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

In the United States, unless your TV has been broken, your newspaper shut down, and your internet connection failed, you know all about "Black Friday". This term is not in reference to post-Thanksgiving bowel movements. This is the day, the awful day, when media advertisers rile people into such a frenzy as to act out as a mob of deal-hunting vigilantes.

So what's a mild mannered, somewhat sane, hunched and goofy person to do? Well, let FLIP rile you into a geek frenzy with some cool, unique gifts from people who have been featured in this year's FLIP!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Years ago, back in 1999, I was working at DreamWorks in Los Angeles when some old University friends came to stay. They were Frances Osbourne and her new husband, George.
At the time George was a wannabe Tory MP, working his way up the greasy
political pole and hoping to get elected, far from the financial and
political power he wields today.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I share the same birthday as Mickey Mouse - November 18th. He is a cartoon character. I draw cartoon characters. I am 50 and aging. He is 84 and not - though you could argue that he's been dead for decades.

When I was 27, I worked with a guy who had been a clean-up artist on Sleeping Beauty. I remember thinking, "Old-timer." Now that I have screen credits older than 27, the term must now apply to me.

Monday, November 19, 2012

In 1993 I was a law student in London, working occasionally at Disney during my summer vacations to pay my way through school. I also had a part-time job working for a Member of Parliament, a kind man called Peter Thurnham, who let me run loose in the Palace of Westminster pretending to be on important business.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Animators hate Motion Capture. We hate it because it threatens us,
threatens to replace what we do so carefully and painstakingly and
slowly with fast, inexpensive, automated technology. I first heard about
it way back in 1987 on the set of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
when it was rumoured that a technology existed whereby a computer could
capture an actor's motion and express it instantly as a piece of 3D
animation. Well, that'll never catch on, I thought (or hoped, more
likely). Phil Nibbelink, one of the most talented animators on The Rabbit, called Motion Capture "the battle cry of the untalented". How we laughed.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Move over Marvel, DC and The Beano - Zoom Rockman is in town. His new comic, appropriately titled "Zoom", has been on sale at newstands in the UK since 2009. This award-winning cartoonist has created new characters such as Crasher, Grumpa Grouch, The Nutters, Freezer Man, a Yorkshire terrier called Rocky, and an annoying little brother named Ace. Zoom has an agent, distribution outlets and a growing fan club. But, most surprising of all, Zoom is just 11 years old. Back in 2009 when he published his first comic, he was nine.

Monday, November 12, 2012

TRON dropped audiences into a glowing realm of Bits, Programs, Systems and
Game Grids – the unseen computer world manipulated by its Users. As one of
the Users on the original crew I still feel that glow in memories that refuse to fade.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Last night I went to a screening in Soho of Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman's charming celtic romp - Brave - which features a red-haired heroine in a Scottish setting (Readers of Flip will already know something of the origins of Merida's fiery hair).

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Maybe it’s because I grew up in the 1950-60’s. I was 11 years old when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I rode GE’s “Carousel of Progress” and Monsanto’s “Adventures through Inner Space” in Disneyland, humming along with it’s theme songs, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” and “Miracles through Molecules.” The view of my future back then was bright and rosy, with the promise of abundant clean energy, candy-colored plastic everything, marvelous, genetically-enhanced foods, and the best thing of all, personal hovercrafts.